Where Is Bill Cosby Now? A Look at The Cosby Show Star’s Life 4 Years After His Prison Sentence Was Abruptly Overturned By Lynsey Eidell

Bill Cosby went from being known as “America’s dad” to an alleged sexual predator who reportedly attacked dozens of women over several decades.

Allegations against the entertainer, who famously starred on The Cosby Show from 1984 to 1992, first emerged in 2005 when Andrea Constand, a former Temple University employee, accused Cosby of drugging and sexually assaulting her one year prior. However, prosecutors decided not to pursue criminal charges and a civil lawsuit was settled out of court.

But other sexual assault allegations against Cosby resurfaced in 2014. Nearly 60 women came forward, according to USA Today, alleging similar stories of being drugged and then sexually assaulted or raped by the performer.

The alleged attacks dated back to the 1960s, placing most of them outside the statute of limitations for filing charges. But one instance — Constand’s — was recent enough for charges to be brought forward, and Cosby was criminally charged with sexual assault in 2015.

The case against Cosby experienced multiple twists and turns, including a mistrial, a conviction and then, a reversal. Throughout it all, Cosby steadfastly denied the allegations against him. “I have never changed my stance nor my story. I have always maintained my innocence,” he wrote in a since-deleted post on X in June 2021, following his release from prison.

Since then, Cosby has stayed out of the public eye, only making the occasional remark, including when his former costar Malcolm-Jamal Warner died on July 20. After Warner drowned in Costa Rica, Cosby’s spokesperson Andrew Wyatt told PEOPLE that the actors kept in touch.

From the beginning of his public downfall to his legal woes, here’s where Bill Cosby is today.

When did sexual assault allegations against Bill Cosby first surface?

Cosby was first publicly accused of sexual assault in January 2005, when Andrea Constand filed a police report, according to ABC News. In it, Constand alleged that a year prior, in January 2004, Cosby had drugged her at his Elkins Park, Penn., mansion and then sexually assaulted her.

At the time of the alleged assault, Constand was the director of operations for the Temple University women’s basketball team. She was introduced to Cosby by a mutual friend in 2002 and, despite their 35-year age difference, the two developed a “sincere friendship,” with Cosby serving as a “mentor” to Constand, according to her criminal complaint.

On the night of the reported assault, Cosby invited Constand to his home to discuss her future career plans and gave her what he claimed was herbal medication to help her relax. Constand told investigators that it left her unable to speak or move.

Cosby later told authorities that he had “a romantic interest” in Constand and that the encounter between them was consensual. Constand, who is gay and was in a relationship with a woman at the time of the alleged attack, insisted that she had “no interest whatsoever” in a romantic relationship with Cosby.

What happened after Andrea Constand accused Bill Cosby of sexual assault?

In February 2005, the Montgomery County district attorney at the time, Bruce L. Castor Jr., decided not to criminally charge Cosby, citing “insufficient credible and admissible evidence” — even though the investigation into the television actor was still ongoing at the time.

In response, Constand filed a civil suit against Cosby in March 2005. The lawsuit included depositions from 13 other women who came forward voluntarily with similar stories of being drugged and abused by Cosby. With these accounts, Castor reportedly struck a deal with Cosby, promising never to prosecute him for the crimes if he agreed to sit for a deposition in the civil case.

Cosby agreed and was deposed by Constand’s lawyers over four days in 2005 and 2006 (resulting in more than 1,000 pages of testimony). The lawsuit was eventually settled out of court for a then-undisclosed amount, Cosby’s deposition was sealed and both parties signed non-disclosure agreements, according to The New York Times.

Fast forward to 2014, several women — including model Janice Dickinson, publicist Joan Tarshis and model Beverly Johnson — spoke out about being allegedly drugged, sexually assaulted or raped by Cosby.

By the following year, 35 Cosby accusers appeared on the cover of New York Magazine, sharing stories of reported assaults that dated back as far as the 1960s. The total number of accusers would increase to nearly 60 women, USA Today reported.

Apart from his career taking a hit, Cosby also faced legal ramifications. Multiple women filed defamation lawsuits against the former television star and the criminal case against him was reopened after the deposition from Constand’s 2005 lawsuit was unsealed. The court papers revealed that Cosby had testified to drugging women with Quaaludes, having sex with teens and offering payment in exchange for silence.

After Kevin Steele defeated Castor in the race for district attorney in Montgomery County in late 2015, criminal charges in the Constand case — the only one still within the statute of limitations — were filed against Cosby.

What happened in Bill Cosby’s sexual assault case?

Cosby was charged with three counts of aggravated indecent assault, each of which carried a potential prison sentence of up to 10 years. Despite numerous efforts by his attorneys to have the charges dismissed and his deposition barred as evidenced, judges ultimately ruled against Cosby and his lawyers.

Cosby’s initial trial began in June 2017. After six days of testimony (including from Constand and one of his accusers from the 2005 civil complaint) and six days of jury deliberation, a mistrial was declared after the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict and remained deadlocked.

In April 2018, Cosby was back in the courtroom for his retrial in the Constand case. This time, the judge allowed for five women to testify against the entertainer about their alleged assaults, as opposed to just one, according to The New York Times.

But the defense also had a new witness: A Temple employee who alleged Constand once told her she could make money by falsely accusing a prominent person. One person the court did not hear from at either trial, however, was Cosby himself.

Cosby’s retrial lasted nearly two weeks. After 12 days of testimony and arguments, he was found guilty on all charges and convicted of sexual assault.  Following the conviction, Cosby — who faced up to 30 years behind bars — was sentenced to three to 10 years in prison in September 2018.

Why was Bill Cosby released from prison?

In May 2021, Cosby’s initial petition for parole was denied after he refused to participate in or complete a treatment program for sex offenders and violence prevention. However, a few weeks later, Cosby was freed after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court overturned his conviction.

Despite two lower state courts refusing to alter the outcome, the state supreme court agreed to hear the case in June 2021. Their decision to reverse his guilty verdict stemmed from the agreement Cosby had made back in 2005 with then-district attorney Castor, who promised him immunity from criminal charges if he sat for a deposition in Constand’s civil case.

As a result, the court determined that Cosby had been subject to “an unconstitutional ‘coercive bait-and-switch,’ ” which the court characterized as a “due process violation.”

The judgement called for Cosby to be released from prison immediately (he was about two years into his maximum 10-year sentence) — and on June 30, 2021, he was set free from State Correctional Institute-Phoenix in Collegeville, Penn. Additionally, the court’s decision prohibited the possibility of any future criminal charges in the Constand case.

Following the reversal, Constand, along with her attorneys Dolores Troiani and Bebe Kivitz, shared in a statement that she found the court’s decision “disappointing.” She also expressed concern that “it may discourage those who seek justice for sexual assault in the criminal justice system.”

Where is Bill Cosby now?

Within days of being released from prison, Cosby indicated through his spokesperson that he was considering a comeback comedy tour, per The Hollywood Reporter.

However, Cosby’s continued legal woes stalled those plans. In 2014, a woman named Judy Huth filed a lawsuit against Cosby alleging that he molested her at the Playboy Mansion in the 1970s when she was 15 years old. The civil suit was put on hold while Cosby faced criminal charges in the Constand case, but was revived following his release from prison, TMZ reported.

In June 2022, Cosby’s sexual battery trial began, but the disgraced comedian did not testify at or attend any of the court proceedings, citing his health. That same month, a civil jury ruled in favor of Huth and found Cosby guilty of sexually abusing her as a teenager. She was awarded $500,000 in damages.

The conclusion of Huth’s case did not mark the end of Cosby’s legal troubles. He has been named in multiple sexual assault lawsuits in New York, Los Angeles, New Jersey and Nevada, according to The New York Times. Cosby’s spokesperson, Wyatt, responded to the latest round of lawsuits by accusing the women plaintiffs of seeking “massive amounts of media attention and greed,” per CBS News.

While Cosby has stayed out of the spotlight since his release from prison, his name continues to land in the headlines, most recently for alleged financial troubles, the New York Post reported.